Jake Irving looks excited. Sitting at a table in a noisy Washington, D.C., bistro, he pulls a chart out of a briefcase with a flourish. The numbers are simple: Canadas untapped, undammed rivers have enough potential to make a serious difference in North Americas energy needs while helping the economy on both sides of the border.

Generating plant at Niagara Falls, Ontario: More of this, eh?

NEWSCOM

According to data his Canadian Hydropower Association has collected from its members, Canada has an estimated 163,000 megawatts of untapped hydro capacity: enough to meet any expected increases in U.S. demand for electricity, enough to transform about a third of the U.S. vehicle fleet to electrical power or to replace many scheduled-for-retirement power-generating plants. This, he tells visitors, is where were going. Irving has every reason to act the cheerleader, but hardly anybody doubts his fundamental point: Hydropower offers the potential of an energy boom almost as large as the one now associated with natural gas.

Questions continue to swirl as to why the Brown River Dam removal process on Grand Traverse Countys Boardman River resulted in a breach earlier this month.

The breach nearly drained the river above the dam, caused flood-damage to an estimated 53 homes downriver, deposited untold amounts of contaminated sediment downriver and, for some, called into question the wisdom of removing the dam in the first place.

(snip)

Charles Peterson, president of Peterson Machinery Sales, and a property owner on a dam impoundment, had submitted a letter of intent to Grand Traverse County in 2008 offering to return hydroelectric generating capacity to the Sabin and Boardman dams. The county rejected his proposal and moved forward with its dam removal agenda.

And we're supposed to trust these morons to erect windmills around our homes.

5
posted on 11/28/2012 7:13:19 PM PST
by cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)

Hydro Quebec,a major Canadian power company,charges about 5.5 cents per killowatt hour for residential use.In winter I pay 20 cents per kWh and in summer it's closer to 22 cents.Much,if not most,of Hydro Quebec's power is hydroelectric.Here's a link.

For the price of tearing a dam or erecting a windmill out we could repower many of the smaller dams east of the Mississippi and produce a considerable amount of power. Modern generation technology makes the smaller dams much biggger producers than they were in the 40s and 50s.

Here is the study conducted on two dams on the Huron river in Ann Arbor.

Grand Traverse County health officials warned that wells flooded as a result of the breach might be contaminated, and recommended homeowners boil water before use.

"If the well water was contaminated by chemical toxins from the river sediment, there's no way boiling the water will make it safe to drink," said Bruce Carpenter, a wildlife artist who is also a homeowner on the Boardman Dam impoundment. "Boiling would only kill bacteria and would effectively concentrate toxins such as mercury rather than eliminate them."

These so called "health officials" are going to get people killed.

15
posted on 11/28/2012 7:47:12 PM PST
by cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)

I think that most people have yet to figure this out, but here’s the REAL STORY.

The purpose of Green Energy is not to replace existing energy. The purpose is to buy time while our existing sources (coal first) are systematically shut down. The promise of Green Energy gives political cover to shutting us down. HOWEVER, once any aspect of Green Energy actually shows some promise, then it is quickly stopped. Take a look at the California desert - some of the most deserted land in the world, and some of the best conditions for solar power. The Dems have locked up much of that desert in the name of environmentalism and now they’re fighting EVERY large solar project planned, some of which can even make money without government help.

But THE PROMISE of windmills and solar has allowed the Dems to prevent construction of new power plants for a DECADE now, so they are making progress. They knew the end game. Not long ago, North Korea was a wealthy country, people there even had a higher standard of living than the South. But then their oil supply got cut off (by the Soviet Union ending), and their power plants quickly shut down - and they starved - probably millions of them. The Dems see this as their roll model and dream of the day that they can do the same to Americans...they always have - that is who they are.

Pretty sad if you ask me.

17
posted on 11/28/2012 8:03:13 PM PST
by BobL
(You can live each day only once. You can waste a few, but don't waste too many.)

They want to remove four dams here on the Klamath river. They always talk about the good things that will come from it but never the bad. The reduced water flow in dry periods and the flooding in the storms. Then there is the millions of tons of sediment. It will be like in you’re story, toxic. So that will all be hazardous material that needs delt with. These people are crazy.

19
posted on 11/28/2012 8:29:11 PM PST
by Lurkina.n.Learnin
(Superciliousness is the essence of Obama)

Yeah, I think I'll take his unfounded wild-eyed leftwing speculations over the word of health officials. Right.

What makes him left wing?

The fact is that many if not most of these old impoundments have industrial toxins in the sediment from years gone by. I live downstream from an old Ford plating plant and there's mercury in the sediments of this lake. Its fine as long as its undisturbed.

24
posted on 11/29/2012 4:31:13 AM PST
by cripplecreek
(REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)

When the destruction of the Elwha River dam in western Washington began the liberals celebrated more than when we won WWII. It was almost a revenge atmosphere for them, as if they were getting even with the rest of the population for taking an opposite view from theirs.

I remember thinking; "It would really be something if they care as much for unborn children as they do fish."

During the debate on removal the state department of ecology decided that generating energy from the power of a natural river was neither clean nor renewable!

Elwha Dam Removal

U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., left, shares a laugh with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, right, as they walk across the Elwha Dam following a ceremony to mark the beginning of the removal of the Elwha Dam and the restoration of the Elwha River, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011, near Port Angeles, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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